TGN Focus – Take a Hike, Copyright Strike!

Just like nutritional information on comfort food, every fun industry has its serious side. YouTube is no different. I like to think of YouTube like the Kraft Dinner of social media – there are plenty of ways to make it awesome, but if you eat it all the time and don’t pay attention to the information on the box, you’re gonna’ have a bad time.

So what’s the “nutritional information” of YouTube? Well, it’s about copyright. I covered a good portion of copyright in last week’s article, but there’s still a little bit more that you should know about it. Here we go…

“There are 3 things you can do to deal

with a strike on your content…”

What To Do With Copyright Strikes

First of all, a copyright strike is when someone claims that you used copyrighted material in your videos without proper permission. I discussed how to avoid copyright issues in last week’s article, but what happens if you do come across an issue? There are 3 things you can do to deal with a strike on your content:

1. Ask for retraction

Most copyright holders just want recognition for their ideas, and contacting them directly can be a great way to resolve any issues. Once you’ve talked it out, you can simply ask them to send a proper retraction statement to YouTube. YouTube has more details if you need some instructions about copyright retractions.

2. Place a Counter-Notification

If you don’t know who to contact about the strike, or they don’t respond, you can also submit a counter-notification through YouTube. If the person doesn’t answer the notification in a short period of time, this should remove your strike as well. YouTube also has some details if you need to find more information about counter notifications.

3. Wait for Expiry

You may not actually have any rights to the content that you posted, which definitely sucks. In this case, all you can do is wait it out for the 6 month expiry – as long as no other strikes are placed on your content in that timeframe.

“3 strikes on your content and your channel

will be disabled by YouTube.”

As a bit of a heads up, 3 strikes on your content and your channel will be disabled by YouTube. This makes dealing with copyright strikes super important if you do have anything on your channel.

YouTube can also pair up with bigger media companies to claim your content with something called “ContentID.” ContentID allows copyright owners to automatically search the web for their material and claim the revenue and stat visibility on the video. It doesn’t place a copyright strike on your content, but it does often mean that your revenue for the video goes to its rightful owner. That can be a real kick in the pants, so we recommend that you make sure to have copyright in mind when you upload your videos. It can save a lot of headaches.

Be sure to come back for next week’s article, as I get back to the more exciting parts about YouTubing as opposed to the not-so-fun “nutritional information” of the platform.